


Movement and Location

by Columbina



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Emerging feelings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 07:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10531956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Columbina/pseuds/Columbina
Summary: He feels the absence vaguely, a sore tooth he can't help but run his tongue over. Over and over.





	

He feels the absence vaguely, a sore tooth he can't help but run his tongue over. Over and over. They spend time apart for holidays, of course, a long weekend, like two grown men with families. Like normal people. But there's time to prepare then, a conscious separating and the knowledge that it won't be for long. Days he doesn't mark off the calendar and pretends he doesn't count down, even to himself. But this is new.

For the first day he cannot shake the feeling of twitchiness, even more heightened than usual, becoming newly aware of an absence the moment he's able to forget it. Stevie doesn't say anything, and at first he's not sure if it's tactful or simply obliviousness, his own nebulous guilt making him paranoid, but then he knocks a mug off his desk and clear across the room. She looks at him, sees him looking right back at her as though caught somehow, and he waits for the joke. She still doesn't say anything, and then he knows.

It strikes him unexpectedly, intermittently. The sharp sting of an abortive turn to empty air, seeking out a wordless agreement somewhere over his own head. Swallowing down a laugh that he knows won't be shared by the empty chair across from him. He knows there's nothing he could say that wouldn't raise an eyebrow, and he certainly doesn't intend to. A family emergency is a family emergency, and he would never, ever grudge him that. Still, though. On the third day he daydreams about having been invited along, about hurriedly stuffing his own bag and heading to the airport, about not quite speeding all the way home when they landed in Raleigh. But he frowns self-consciously when a knock at the door interrupts him, and he tries not to think about it like you'd try not to think about a toothache. Like you'd hope it would fade on its own.

It doesn't. Not until he gets a call that all is well, that there's a red eye back tonight and the ticket's booked. He offers to drive out to the airport, even at 4:00 in the morning, like any best friend would. No need to trouble the wife, yeah, tell her not to worry, or the kids anymore than they have been. He's glad, he's thrilled, but only for a few of the right reasons. Finally, at fucking 4:30, they spot each other across the pick up area outside the terminal. The final twinges fade away and only then does he realize how constant, though subtle, the ache has been. He tries not to think about it, just puts it in park, and works to make his smile look more tired than he feels as the door opens.

**Author's Note:**

> Title courtesy of the Punch Brothers. I intended a Link POV, but I invite you to envision either one in either role.


End file.
